In many chemical processes, a fluid product is passed through a bed of catalyst and inert materials for the purpose of developing a catalytic reaction that speeds up the particular chemical reaction that is being accomplished. In some cases, the catalyst and inert materials are placed in layers within the reactor and the fluid product is simply passed through the catalyst bed. In other cases, catalytic reactors are provided having a plurality of elongated passages, typically defined by tubes within which the catalyst and inert materials are located. In order for the catalytic reaction to occur, the fluid product is passed through the loaded catalyst tubes and the fluid product is thus caused to come into reactive contact with the catalyst and inert materials contained therein. By loading catalyst tubes with catalyst and inert materials, the reactive fluid product is caused to come into more efficiently controllable contact with the catalyst materials contained within the tube and thus the catalytic reaction that occurs is more accurately controllable than that typically accomplished by way of bed type catalytic reaction systems.
After the catalyst has been depleted to the extent that it must be replaced, the reactor is typically taken out of service and the cleaning process is conducted by means of service personnel. Where vertical catalyst tubes are provided in catalytic reactors, it is necessary for service personnel to enter the hazardous environment of the reactor and dislodge the catalyst and inert materials from the catalyst tubes by means of manually handled probes. The probes are inserted into each of the catalyst tubes and the catalyst material contained therein is dislodged by oscillating the probes in an up and down motion, causing the catalyst and inert particles to fall to the bottom of the reactor. These dislodged materials then must be collected in any suitable manner and removed from the reactor, typically by completely manual operations. The disadvantages of manual catalyst replacement is obvious. Workmen must conduct catalyst cleaning removal and replacement operations in an environment that may be hazardous. Manual operations for catalyst cleaning, removal and replacement are obviously quite slow procedures and typically result in substantial reactor down time and lost production. Such manual operations are therefore adverse to the commercial efficiency of the chemical process involving the catalytic reaction. It is therefore desirable to develop a catalyst cleaning, removal and replacement process that can be accomplished by mechanical systems and by limiting the amount of manual labor that is required for accomplishing catalyst removal and replacement.